Obama admits he's still a smoker. Says he won't smoke in the WH. Guess that means he'll be stepping out a side door every now and then. Will anyone in the media publish a photo of him with a cig in his mouth? Nah.
On another matter, Mr. Obama indicated that he still had not kicked his smoking habit of two decades.
Mr. Obama had said he quit smoking at the beginning of his campaign for president, in early 2007. But he later admitted to having “bummed” cigarettes from others, and last week he told Barbara Walters that he had “fallen off the wagon.”
On Sunday, Mr. Brokaw pressed Mr. Obama as to whether he had actually quit.
“What I would say is, is that — that I have done a terrific job, under the circumstances, of making myself much healthier,” Mr. Obama replied, suggesting that he had at least cut back while running for the most high-pressure job in the world.
Couldn't just say no now could he? Gotta try to put a better face on it.
As for whether he might break the ban on smoking at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Mr. Obama said that “I think that you will not see any violations of these rules in the White House.” (Like a good politician, he left some wiggle room, not making an outright commitment to quit for good, suggesting merely that he would not smoke in the Executive Mansion.)
His physician, Dr. David L. Scheiner, wrote in May that Mr. Obama had used Nicorette gum to try to stop smoking “with success,” but without defining success.
thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com |
